Sunday 24 February 2013

The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds

I'm assembling a collection of work to send to The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds which will be available to buy there from mid March.

With the change of season approaching I have researched the Pantone colour forecast for Spring 2013 and already have an eye on Autumn 2013.  The Spring palette initially looked quite upsetting but after trying to assemble a mood board over my mixing desk, it seems it isn't a million miles away from the Vuillard painting which has been up on my wall for 10 months now.  The left half (except for the hideous emerald green) sits within the left hand side of the painting and the colours on the right are reflected in the right half of the painting.  The subject of the painting, the sombrely dressed Bonnard, I see as representing me and my tastes in there and will feature in all my colour mixing choices.  So the Vuillard painting stays - and not just because I love it but because it includes almost every colour in the Pantone colour predictions for the coming months.


Pantone fashion colour report - Spring 2013


'Study For The Portrait Of Bonnard' by Édouard Vuillard - colour inspiration


Taking poppy red from the Pantone predictions, I was searching for an image of tonal reds and found a beautiful photograph on Flickr by Bertil Hansson (link here).  Below is a detail of the original with one of my resin stones overlaid.  I cannot wait to start interpreting the colours and the texture into resin - my mouth is actually watering!



© Bertil Hansson / BUS - All rights reserved
Jane Dzisiewski resin stone overlaid a detail of Bertil Hansson's photograph - Wall IV.
This image is from a series of Abstract work Bertil has on his website 
http://www.bertilhansson.com


I've made quite a few bangles and blocks already and now hoping for a few degrees increase in the outside temperature so that I can get outside and start sanding and cutting stones next week.


Jane Dzisiewski - Resin bangles just released from moulds


Friday 8 February 2013

Sketchbooks - once a necessary evil but now my friend

In honour of #SketchBreak on Facebook and Twitter run by the Design Museum, I have assembled a few images below of my sketchbook work from 2007 up to present day.

During the process of flicking through all my black books of various shapes and sizes, I thought back to the mid 1980s when I was at Manchester Polytechnic doing BA Hons Printed Textiles.  I moaned about having to 'do' sketchbooks and yet 20 odd years on, I have done a complete about turn and see my sketchbooks as the most useful tool to collate my ideas, inspiration and design progression. 

This change of heart is partly due to the fact that for the duration of my Textiles Degree, the majority of our work was done on large A1 sheets and pinned on boards rendering sketchbooks surplus to requirements.  Fast forward to 2007 at the Manchester College, we did not have the luxury of our own studio space so all work was done in sketchbooks.  I adapted and found a way to use them that works for me - a mixture of photography, images from books, drawings, tracing, quick sketches, maquettes and writing.

I used to be very timid with my choice of sketchbook but now it's 'the bigger the better'.  I feel no pressure to fill a page or to make it pretty for other people to admire, as this is primarily a vehicle to record what is going on in my head and for developing new designs.  When I first start a page, it may have only one small picture and a bit of writing but over time I add to this - and eventually pages are often crammed with information gathered from a particular train of thought.  One day I can think I have had an excellent idea and then after digging around to check, I discover a picture of another makers work who has pipped me to the post.  In the picture goes as a reminder to shelve that idea and turn the page in my head and move forward taking a different tack.  This is why I like to have as much research as possible in the form of photographs and books around me, so that I always have a large amount of material for inspiration during the inevitable 'back to the drawing board' moments Designers encounter.

My sketchbooks are a collection of things that inspire me at any given time and I develop and interpret these ideas or themes in my work.  Land and seascapes, ancient artefacts, decorative ornamental designs, japonaiserie, textiles, sculptures, paintings and architecture in all their forms are in evidence - but the common element I am drawn to in all of these are pattern, colour, textures and line.  It has dawned on me this week that I haven't travelled as far as I originally thought from my textiles days; the same aesthetic which was in my textiles designs continues today in my jewellery pieces.  Applied Arts though gives me a chance to bring my inspiration to life beyond the page and the story about how a body of work has evolved, is an intrinsic part of its final success and (most important of all) its integrity - all of which is backed up in my sketchbooks.


Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 / Starting point - drawings of a bronze Roman Pin

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 / Roman Pin - Bronze

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - Silesian wirework

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - Silesian wirework

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - Drawings inspired by wire netting on Hastings seafront

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - Drawings of wire inspired by Hastings seafront

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - Stones and mounts inspired by artefacts in La Seu Cathedral, Palma, Majorca

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - drawings of knitting, crochet and chainmail

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009 - crochet / dreamcatcher (inspiration for mounts)

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2009

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2008 - Textiles neckpiece

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2008 - Textiles neckpiece

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2008 - Textiles neckpiece

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2007 - Barbirolli Square Fountain, Manchester. Inspiration for textures - water

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2007 - wet pavements - St Peter's Square, Manchester. Inspiration for textures.

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2012 - Smithfields Market roof. Inspiration for Manchester Craft & Design Centre 30th Anniversary exhibition, Crafting History.

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2007 - Yorkshire Scupture Park - Barbara Hepworth

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2007 - Yorkshire Scupture Park - Barbara Hepworth / Henry Moore

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2012 - Smithfields Market ironwork roof. Inspiration for Manchester Craft & Design Centre 30th Anniversary exhibition, Crafting History.

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2012 - Smithfields Market ironwork roof.

Jane Dzisiewski: Sketchbook 2012 - Designs for mounts inspired by Smithfields Market ironwork roof. The Crafting History exhibition which this work was made for has been and gone, but this sketchbook will continue to grow and evolve over time.


Anyone can join in on Twitter using the #SketchBreak hashtag - and please see the Facebook album here which Crafts Council UK has uploaded and includes sketchbook work by some of their other Hothouse jewellers.